May 4, 2010

Left: the property that was once the home of the barricaded Keith Sadler

When I first heard yesterday about the decision by Keith Sadler to barricade himself inside his foreclosed house, I thought I would pass on writing about the situation. After all, I reasoned, most of the local media had already weighed in on the matter, and I have a ton of exams to grade, and I have some daylilies to plant.

Excuses ad nauseum.

However, after reading some of the news pieces and scratching my head at the misleading and superficial coverage, I decided to take a drive out to Stony Ridge and talk with Keith and his supporters in the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League.

I should add that I have met Keith Sadler at least a half-dozen times in my work as a journalist, and I have known him to be a tireless activist for many causes. Though I am sure I disagree with him on many issues, I sympathize with his plight, and he has been taking a shellacking from misinformed people in the media and the blogosphere the past few days. However, at least the story is gaining some significant traction, and at last count Google News lists 142 media outlets carrying the story in some form. Gauging from the jump in site traffic on my own site from the initial posting of this article, it is clear that Keith Sadler's actions have attracted a great deal of attention.

Keith has been joined in his protest by over a dozen supporters, five of whom are sealed in the house he once called his home.

Left: tents housing supporters of Keith Sadler

In talking with a young man named Tyler, I speculated as to what might be the strategy of Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn, the man charged with carrying out the eviction order.

"If he's trying to wait us out, he'll be waiting a long time," Tyler said.

Indeed, in the two hours I talked with people and took pictures at the Fremont Pike home, several people arrived with food and other supplies. A well-heeled local business contractor brought several cases of bottled water for the group, a reminder that that the issue of the American foreclosure crisis crosses many ideological boundaries.

The barricaded house sits at the junction of East Broadway and US-20 in this sleepy rural hamlet, and honking horns of supportive motorists interrupted the morning songs of cardinals and robins. Activist Wesley Flowers noted that a number of other homeowners in foreclosure have stopped by in the past two days to offer support, and that Keith's house will join several other vacant homes in Stony Ridge.

"This lovely little slice of Americana is going to end up looking like the worst neighborhoods in Toledo's North End if the foreclosure crisis continues," he observed.

One of the chief misconceptions that people have about Keith Sadler is that he is "trying to get something for nothing," said Flowers.

"Keith is not trying to to get a free house from the bank. He tried to negotiate a mutually beneficial plan with the bank and failed," he said. "Foreclosure is going to happen to him, he knows this, and all he is trying to do is make a statement about the plight of millions of Americans like him."

The real estate marketer RealtyTrac noted that almost 10 percent of American mortgages are in some stage of delinquency, and across the country foreclosure filings on 2.8 million properties occurred in 2009. This figure is up 21 percent from 2008 and a whopping 120 percent from 2007.

Left: protest signs in front of Keith Sadler's foreclosed home

The record number of foreclosures, noted Flowers, is also having deleterious ripple effects in other areas of the local economy.

"Groups like food banks and homeless shelters face demands far beyond their capacities, and local and state governments have been disinclined to provide extra help to marginalized groups like the homeless," Flowers said. "In 2008 in Lucas County approximately 1,937 people competed for the 400 beds available in homeless shelters, and from my conversations with local shelters, the number of homeless is exponentially worse."

In my own middle class neighborhood in West Toledo, there are almost 1,700 homes in some stage of foreclosure. On my street there are quite a few vacant houses, which was a rare sight before 2008, and I have a vacant house right next door to my own. While staunch defenders of private property rights might cringe at Keith Sadler's radical tactics, his actions are certainly sparking additional debate about the largely unsolved problem about the many millions of vacant residential properties in the United States.

The Toledo Foreclosure Defense League has a UStream account set up for video updates. People who want to help Keith Sadler and his supporters are encouraged to stop by the house at 5947 Fremont Pike with food and beverages, and anyone who wants to carry a picket is welcome to do so.

What, if anything, do the fashion choices of the activists have to do with anything, Anonymous? We should address the issues and not focus on whether or not someone is wearing ear gauges and black shirts.

Do you only look at the outward appearance of people, Anonymous, in your estimation of their value as citizens? At the risk of invoking Godwin's Law, I would suggest that certain historical fascist leaders would just adore unthinking, superficial people like you.

Keith is a really decent guy, and it's been really hard for him over the last few years with his medical issues keeping him from bringing in regular money.

He's lived in his house (and it is HIS house) and been a valuable member of the neighborhood and his community for twenty years, and that in and of itself gives him every right - I'm purposely omitting legal constructs here - to consider it his home.

Why do people not understand that homes are not a commodity, and that they are necessities, like food and air and water?

It takes some serious brainwashing by those steering the financial industry to convince people that it makes sense for banks to be allowed to own residential properties, as though they had any interest, beyond financial, in the communities that are affected.

If it meant that the bank could make an extra two dollars, they'd gladly use the house to store radioactive waste.

People are what matters in communities. Not the bottom line of some rich pricks that only know that they even have the deed because an accountant tells them so.

Wait, but regardless of how we feel about banks owning houses or the terrible, awful times this guy fell into, did he not borrow money from the bank in order to purchase the home? Isn't that the deal with people who were foreclosed on? They borrowed money from the bank - the bank's money - to purchase a property that, for many reasons, they were unable to maintain payments on?

Yes, banks *should* negotiate and do everything possible to keep the current owners in and avoid foreclosures. Here where I live, we have a # of vacant properties and it changes the tone of the neighborhood, even with most of the homes still occupied. But when you sign a contract, you sign on to all the terms - including the part about what's going to happen when you can't repay the loan. It sucks, but when you sign it, you don't have much recourse (as we have learned in the last 2 yrs).

I hear this boo-hoo-woe-is-me crap all day long from the dead beat tenants I have, its always someone elses fault... and when I evict them they always want to make more payment agreements (that they have more excuses NOT to keep) or want more time...and the Toledo Foreclosure Defense League...could not DEFEND thier way out of a wet paper bag...thier message is BS, a contract is a contract, if you don't understand it. You shouldn't sign it, if you can't afford it, don't try to buy it then cry when it gets repoed. They are just a bunch of stoner freaks who can't even carry on a conversation with out forgetting what they are saying...or using some kind of cuss words...they are spouting facts that are incorrect.. Ask Keith about that new car he just bought...Can't wait to see them all get arrested by the sherriff they have been harrassing...

I'm trying hard to restrain my anger at this encroachment of even MORE common financial stupidity, and the way that media elements (yes, even HistoryMike) try to soft-pedal the issues along the same line.

Plainly put, if you can't agree to a multi-decade financial contract, THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE IN ONE. There is no such thing as "home as a right". The principle of private property is clearly superior to whatever thieves like Sadler have in mind. Private property PROTECTS what you have, but at the same time, you have the responsibility to HONOR CONTRACTS, particularly the one involving purchases.

In other words, Sadler probably liked "owning" his home before, but when it came time to honor the contract (since not paying, under the contract, means you must LEAVE), he balked. We see this sort of behavior from a lot of Americans who lack moral fiber, and in fact are either criminals or pre-criminals.

In a sane America, people would only agree to contracts that they were utterly sure that they could fulfill. After all, one of the legal bases for contracts is GOOD FAITH. Sadler is clearly exhibiting bad faith. He must leave the house summarily.

... because if he doesn't, and if we then tolerate that, then there's no basis for all contracts in these here united States. Nobody then is obligated to pay on their mortgages.

HistoryMike, you should have been a lot more careful of leaning towards that sort of message. Your news report should have talked ALSO about how Sadler is a crook for failing to honor the mortgage contract.

Nah, they are not all crackpots, or NSM lunatics. Most folks who oppose what Keith is doing just buy into the argument that people in foreclosure did something wrong or deserved this fate.

In fact, most of the right-leaning comments above are fairly tame compared to the attacks on Keith on some of the local message boards and blogs. Well, except for the "commie freaks" and "dope-smoking losers" silliness above.

I am only interested in getting Keith's side of the story out. There is a misconception that Keith Sadler wants something for nothing, or that he wants a free house.

Nothing could be further from the truth. He is engaged in the time honored tradition of civil disobedience to bring attention to a serious problem. We might disagree with him, or we might find his tactics antithetical to our notions of private property, but his protest has got a lot of folks talking already, and we are only into Day Two.

Wait until the inevitable showdown and see how this plays out.

And then there's this: Keith raises an important point about how the corporate desperation for cash in the imploding housing and credit markets means that communities are being destroyed and people are being made homeless. This is not the greedy banker Henry F. Potter in small town America with his fictional local bank; this is an era when decisions on foreclosures are driven by multinational corporations half a world away and hedge funds that prey upon financial misfortune.

This has less to do with free markets and more to do with dysfunctionalities of the global financial markets. Personally I am a helluva lot more concerned about my own block than I am about some overseas derivative contract that is built upon meeting certain arcane formulas involving the mortgages of my neighbors.

The free market ideology penned by Adam Smith bears little in relation with the financial insanity that masks as "modern capitalism."

Thanks for being a REAL JOURNALIST!!!I'm not saying this because you are supporting this action (are you even?) But because you are one of the few if not the only news/blog/article to mention the real reason keith is doing this. Not to get a free house, but to raise awareness about the systemic problem of foreclosures, and to demand a moritorium on ALL evictions, not just his. He has even stated he will not come out if the house is offered to him, only a complete stoppage of all foreclosures, or the not-so-gentle hands of the police can get him out.

Thank you, Mike. Your previous blog post about Keith and the TFDL was one that I linked to in a post of my own about the situation and why I'm supporting Keith. If I'd known it was you coming by the house this morning, I would have thanked you in person. I'm glad you got to come and check it out for yourself.

Rocco said: "Plainly put, if you can't agree to a multi-decade financial contract, THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE IN ONE."

Now I guess I can agree with that in an absolute world of black and white but think about it, most people get married to their soul mates and plan to live happily ever after... and taht's supposed to last decades as well. But you know what... human beings are not perfect. Surprises happen. People change.

According your criteria, nobody should ever sign a mortgage ever. Because how do you know, especially in this market if you will have a job next year, let alone projecting ten or twenty years out? Granted you have a point, maybe nobody should sign a mortgage contract with a bank because, well, mortgage contracts tend to be WRITTEN by the banks. And for some reason, the banks tend to write them in their own favor. So you should hire a lawyer. But even with your lawyer, who probably has hundreds of other clients you are facing a savvy bank that does thousands of mortgages a year and they have a whole team of lawyers working exclusively for them. But even if we get past that, and get past any criticism of the inherent nature of our banking system, (i.e. fractional reserve lending and charging of compound interest on the FRONT END of a mortgage,) if we can leave all that aside for a moment, as well as the fact that in many cities, banks are unable to sell foreclosed homes for YEARS, and if we can also forget that this is the largest housing crisis since the Great Depression, that not only banks lose money on many foreclosed homes, but so do cities and counties and communities- if we lay all that aside and assume that both parties made the deal in good faith- it's time for us to think outside the box and come up with s solution no matter how unorthodox or radical because 2.6 MILLION houses were foreclosed in 2009 and 2010 is on track to be even worse.

Did you know that children are the fastest growing demographic of the homeless population?

Our country is dying from a foreclosure epidemic and all you can do is play "blame the victim" so you can sleep better at night?

Even if the banks are completely innocent of any wrongdoing whatsoever, and the 2.6 million foreclosed ex-home owners were the most frivolous and worst specimens of faux Americana imaginable and totally deserved their fate, even then we would still have to find a radical solution to this problem because it is destroying us economically, socially, and morally.

Wake up People ! What ever happened to trying to raise the money to pay your bills ? If they used half as much energy and time trying to pay the mortgage instead of protesting they would not be in this situation.

Part of my JOB is to evict people who don't pay... all they are doing is giving a bunch of deadbeats more excuses to not pay their bills.

I have heard every excuse in the book. They sound allot like the nonesense this guy keeps spouting.

he says he tried everything ... but no he didn't try everything he went straight to the blame game.

When you sign a mortgage contract you make the payments or loose it.

Bottom line is fufill your obligations and you won't get evicted.

Toledo Foreclosure Defense League is a JOKE .... where were they during the foreclosure court case ? Protesting ? cuz that always helps right ? OR sleeping ...There are procedures to follow to fight things like this. They are in place for a reason. All the support in the world will not trump that. AND JUST BECAUSE YOUR LOUDER DOESN"T MAKE YOU RIGHT

Show me where I "sided" with Keith Sadler. I am amazed at the people who read quotes and think the journalist and the person being quoted are one and the same. Please separate the message from the messenger.

I find Keith's story compelling on a human level first, and his protest is raising important questions about the foreclosure crisis. I indicated that there are many political issues with which I have different opinions with Keith, but this post is not about my political beliefs: it is simply an attempt to get Keith's side of the story out, which many mainstream media sources failed to do IMHO.

Also, I was irritated by blogosphere mantras like "that freeloader wants the government to give him a house" and "that filthy Commie just wants someone to pay for his mistakes." When I see misconceptions like this, I like to weigh in and help get the other side of the story out.

If I decide in the future to compose a blog post about MY ideas on the foreclosure crisis, I will do do. This post is a single blogger's effort to provide an outlet for the aspects of Keith's story that have been distorted or manipulated for other agendas or by lazy reporters.

If I am guilty of anything I have a literary tendency to be interested in David-versus-Goliath stories. I also find that covering stories that have been ignored or that get superficial treatment by other media outlets is in some ways a lot more intriguing than simply parroting what everyone else says.

Here is a quick sample of the underdogs I found to be compelling human interest stories over the past few years:

From Zack Sky Sucker: Did you know that children are the fastest growing demographic of the homeless population?

No, and I don't care. I'm not the one who got her pregnant and then failed to secure an abortion. Either one or two people decided to have children and then found out they couldn't support them. That isn't my fault and I'm not going to pay for it.

Our country is dying from a foreclosure epidemic and all you can do is play "blame the victim" so you can sleep better at night?

Our country? Since when did a commie freeloader like you ever get a slice of 'our country'? First off, 'our county' is not dying of a foreclosure epidemic. It isn't even dying at all. The economy is in a depression and the Moonbats in Washington (and Columbus, in our case) are busy putting out the largest forest fire in the history of the world by throwing money on it. These are same very same Moonbats that people like you elect into office (here's your cue to begin chanting 'Yes we can!') and who are now giving you the stainless steel shaft without benefit of personal lubricant.

Your problem is the same one these other Moonbats have; they refuse to take personal responsibility for their own hardship. It's always someone else's fault, or the government isn't doing enough to bail them out of the fire, or the stars aren't aligned correctly. Let these people bail themselves out of their own problems for a change.

If you and your fellow Moonbats want to get even with the cruel, heartless system that is kicking Keith Sadler to the curb without mercy, all you have to do is stop buying on credit. That's it. If you could get an additional 10% of the people who normally carry a balance on their credit cards and who are shopping for a home to A) pay off the credit cards and keep the balance paid off each month, and B) refuse to get a mortgage loan, you'll likely see a change in the mortgage loan industry in six months. Organize these people into a SIG of some kind - say, People for Integrity in Lending (PIL) - and successfully complete a six month letter writing campaign and you'll see changes made.

Naturally, none of this will ever happen because it requires the one thing Moonbats don't have: Self-control. Each person has to control their own lifestyle and overcome their natural apathy. That will never happen and the politicos know it.

Actually I think the suggestions you make toward the end of your tirade are all pretty good ideas. But I don't understand the venom. You make a series of assumptions about me and about "these commies" that don't have any basis but your own, admittedly vivacious, imagination.

Also your overuse of the pejorative, "moonbat" somewhat confused me.

By badmouthing the specific homeowner, or pregnant teen, homeless child, or even myself, you are overlooking the systemic problem.

Even if all 2.6 foreclosed homeowners were "commie freeloaders" that still does not change the fact that the problem is nationwide and we need to take a grand view of the situation rather than nitpicking the personal flaws on a case by case basis.

However, internet comments are well known for their ridiculous flaming so perhaps this is a discussion I cant win.

I don't understand how anybody justifies calling this guy a commie freeloader if he paid on the house for 25 years. Christ, he's probably already paid the more than the price the home was sold for 25 years ago, and has only defaulted on the usury...errr, interest the banks charge.

A bunch of you seem to be saying the bank should do whatever it can to keep ppl in the house even if they can't pay. Here is a question: would any of you keep working for a company that could not afford to pay you? just so they could keep their doors open?

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs. —Thomas Jefferson, 1802

There is a problem with the economy but you can not blame everyone's problems on it.

If these people were camped out somewhere else I would probably cheer them on.

But the facts are : this tfdl was started when Keith started to loose his house... They SAY that they are doing this to bring awareness to the problem.But really its a personal vendetta.

If they really wanted to help "everyone" They might have tried some of the things that "mad Jack" mentions.

If they really wanted to be a professional organization they would not be slamming the cops the banks the reporters that didn't cover it the way they wanted.

They might have prepared what they wanted to say on air, instead of just winging it. Instead they are giving out personal phone numbers for the sheriff and encouraging people to call him and the bank.

How does this help ?

The sheriff and the bank people are just doing their jobs.

All they are doing is making it really SUCK for the poor people that have to answer the phones.Should they quit their jobs and not pay their bills too ?

All I am saying is their message would carry allot more weight if they would not have made this such a circus. If they had really intended to help other people in the same situation, instead of just trying to be a thorn in the banks side, this would have been carried out way differently.

They are squatters,he doesn't own the house anymore. It belongs to the bank. They are trespassing, vandalizing and staying in this house AGAIN WITH OUT PAYING FOR IT.

The house already looks like its not been taken care of they are just doing more damage. Who gets to pay to repair that ? Yeah the bank can try to get it from Keith but you can't get money from someone who doesn't have any.So ultimately the bank takes a loss which costs ALL OF US WHO PAY THIER BILLS MORE.

I hope the rest of the world does not think all people in the Toledo Area are of this mentality,because we are not. This is just a small group of people who do not see the big picture. They say they do, and yeah they are getting coverage but the people who struggle to pay their mortgage or rent and bills are just waiting to watch them get arrested.

"But the facts are : this tfdl was started when Keith started to loose his house... They SAY that they are doing this to bring awareness to the problem.But really its a personal vendetta."

that is an incorrect fact. You can look up online (its public information) when keith was foreclosed on. The TFDL was active BEFORE this happened, and I'm pretty sure even made news before keioth was foreclosed on, and your can look that up too. So there you go, wrong. Since that was your only 'fact' and the rest of your post is pretty mindless pro-money drivel, I'll leave it at that.

one last thought if this is about keiths house, why is he barricaded until a moratorium on ALL foreclosures are called? he knows his house is gone, he's not even asking for his house.

would any of you keep working for a company that could not afford to pay you?

Yes, some people would. I might do so under the right circumstances. It's not likely, but possible.

The sheriff and the bank people are just doing their jobs.

This is called the Nuremberg defense, and it won't wash. Sheriff's deputies are perfectly free to refuse an order for the same reasons we all are.

one last thought if this is about keiths house, why is he barricaded until a moratorium on ALL foreclosures are called?

So he claims, but what if Keith has exaggerated a little bit?

About the only claim Keith has against the financial institution, and I think it's a thin one, is this: Typically the lender wants the money that's due them. Optionally, the lender wants more money because in the case of money more is always better. Not just sometimes, but always. In this case it might be argued that the lender didn't want the money due them so much as they wanted the house, which after 20 years of regular payments is worth more than the balance of the loan. At that point foreclosure might be construed as an attempt at unconscionable profit.

This argument sounds pretty thin, even to me, but I suppose it might be made if some support for it exists.

From Zachariahskylab: But I don't understand the venom.

Does that keep you awake nights?

There is another local (to Toledo) forum or two where I contribute, and when I was writing I forgot just who my audience was.

I don't understand how you can say Keith even has a claim against the Bank. He is grasping at straws.

My house was almost foreclosed on because I wasn't able to pay my taxes for 4 years, When I got that notice I contacted them right away,they set me up with payments.No I don't have a bunch of money hanging around, I had to do with out some things to make this work.

If you ignore it or make a payment arraignment and then don't keep it, you give them the right to do what they have to do.

Some people have excuse after excuse to NOT pay. Then they want to play the victim card when it all comes crashing down. AND it NEVER their fault.

I manage property for a lender, they did not want the houses they got stuck with them, and opted to try renting them out instead of evicting everyone and letting them sit vacant. The people were offered rental leases at a much reduced rate.Some agreed and stayed in their homes, some didn't and got evicted.

The ones evicted trashed the houses and got criminal charges placed against them.

the point of my rant is not every foreclosure is the fault of the evil bank or lender. Some people make bad choices, and instead of trying to fix it, they blame someone else.

Where is Keith going to go now ? An eviction on your credit is an automatic decline for most rental places. I just think he made the situation so much worse for himself.

And "Mad Jack" if you worked for me and refused to do something you would be fired, as with most bosses.

Why should anyone put themselves in the same situation by getting fired because they refused to do their job, because they didn't agree. You never did anything on a job you didn't want to ? if so you are a lucky man.

Amazing. The posts in this thread are an incredible document of how incoherent the response to the housing foreclosure crisis in America really is!I totally support Keith and believe the theatrics and the passion only help to raise the average citizens awareness of the immediacy of this crisis.Saying that just because they are louder doesn't mean they are making sense is ridiculous.The power of the banks and the landlords to steamroll over any type of attempt at compromise or undersrtanding of circumstance for sheer greed is a lot louder than the actions of a group of people trying to make them uncomfortable by confronting them with the results of their actions.

How many foreclosures have been accomplished automatically because of flawed paper work? Once these guys get control of the legal system...the sheriff, the court because they have the "papers" the steam roller starts....Even if they are wrong, the "papers" have put the foreclosure in motion and it is up to the victim to figure out how to stop it!

The disenfranchized population of America is becoming a human oil spill......

I listened to an interview with Keith on the radio yesterday. There were many things which he stated in the interview which has caused him to be in this situation. The problem is not with the bank but with Keith not taking personal responsibility. He mentioned that his mortgage had gone down recently because it was an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM). ARM is mortgage speak for "You can't afford this house so we will offer you an introductory low rate and then dramatically raise your interest rate after a period of time". Anyone who gets professional advice before purchasing a home will be told to avoid an ARM because of the possibility of dramatic interest swings. What percentage of Keith's take home pay was his payment? Obviously too high of a percentage to allow him to build a savings safety net. If he had sought advice before purchasing a reliable advisor would have informed him to have at least a 6 month and preferably a 12 month safety net of savings before taking on home ownership in case of hardship (his plight).He mentioned that he was injured on the job and had surgery and was on disability from said injury which did not equal his previous income. He should have taken advantage of the provision which is in most all disability policies which would have paid for him to go to trade school or institution of higher learning to learn or be educated to move into another career field. These provisions have loans and/or grants for them to help with supplemental income above disability and the training is paid for.So Keith, as you can see, you are a deadbeat. Stop being a scofflaw, live up to your signed upon obligations and quit waiting for someone else to do for you what you should do for yourself.

And "Mad Jack" if you worked for me and refused to do something you would be fired, as with most bosses.

Oh no! Not fired! Oh please not that. Anything but that! What ever shall I do? I'll just have to find another job, won't I?

Mockery over.

If I was ever desperate enough to work for someone like you, I can assure you it wouldn't be for long. Nor would being fired by you or one of your hatchet men weigh heavily on my conscience or cause me to lose sleep.

Go ahead and fire me. Just wait until the liberal moonbat press gets hold of my story and runs with it. "I was supposed to foreclose the home and throw a family of five into the street, but even someone as hard and cold as I am doesn't have the stomach to put a little five year old girl out in the cold."

Oh, yeah, you'll have a major problem. You'll be lucky if you aren't burned in effigy on your own front lawn. Meantime, I'll file for unemployment and see if I can get a good, moral, upstanding lawyer to take my case in exchange for, say, half. Sure, you'll be out in the street after I finish with you.

SO many of you that have commented are so smug. "Well don't enter a contract you cant fulfill"! Let me explain something. I purchased my first home when I was 22 years old, I new nothing about mortgage contracts. The only loan I had ever had was a car loan. The bank made it so easy! I was given a very low interest ARM loan and was told "as long as you refinance within 2 to 3 years everything will be ok. Three years later having never missed a payment, I tried to refinance. Only no one would give me a loan under 10% interest. So That is what I had to take as it was better then a rate which would continue to climb surpassing the 10%. The greedy banks did this to many many people. They gave loans like this to people they knew could not afford it, or were likely to default. They made it look real good on paper. And these loans were made so some greedy wall street son of a bitch, could bundle these bad loans into derivatives stamp them class A stock(which in itself should constitute fraud) and get rich quick, all at the expense of the entire American economy. When this blew up in their face, rather then being punished for their irresponsible gamble, they were rewarded with Federal Tax money (Bailout!!)! So what then is to stop them from doing this again? They were rewarded for their failure! They are rewarded when they succeed! SO what then is the risk? If you or I could go to Las Vegas and were guaranteed no matter how much we risk there would be no long term loss, would you bet it all? Have any of you smug assholes been awake the last two years? Have you seen the effects of the mortgage crisis on JOBS? No measure to date put into effect by congress has stemmed the foreclosure crisis, which was the tipping point of our economy. And "THAT" is what this protest was about! I do not care how these people dressed, or spoke. They took a stand for something they believed in, not for them selves. None of them had anything to gain from this other then to have their voice heard. And that makes them more American then any of you judgmental, arrogant, pacifists. This country was founded by revolutionists, people who thought outside of the box, people who would no longer accept the status quo! The real communists here are the people who lie down and say "This is how it is, and cannot be changed"!

Well if you were 22 and going to get a mortgage why did you not ask others about it (a lawyer maybe) or your parents, or someone else who may of had a mortgage before you? seems like the sensible thing to do but hey its just easier to blame it all on the banks then say "Hey I got screwed, but it was partly my own fault for not looking into it first" cause that's what most Americans do these days blame all there problems on everyone else

The manufacturing sector in the Toledo area will never bounce back, and we all need to realize this. If I lost my job I would get another, no matter what the job. Also if the forclosure sale was only $33000 that is childs play and could have been refied if he had a job. We have forgotten what the greatest generation tought us, WORK HARD. Typical white trash that hate the rich, how bought getting off your crying kiester and make something of yourself. He probably thought the forclosure fairy would come and pay the mortgage out of Obama's stash, and waiting on assistance instead of working 3 jobs to cover the mortgage. How about reading The Go-Getter: A Story That Tells You How To Be One, by Peter B. Kyne you might remember that we used to not depend on anyone but ourselves. Sad

This really isn't a matter of failure to accept personal responsibility for inability to meet financial obligations. This is a matter of extraordinarily disparate bargaining power. Lending institutions control unimaginable amounts of money, which translates to legal and business savvy which far outpaces even those people with above-average education. The law that governs commercial paper (which includes transfer and assignment of mortgages) is complex. It is made far more complex by the slight-of-hand tactics of derivatives traders and lenders. The deck is stacked overwhelmingly against the average (or even above-average) consumer.

No amount of blame-the-victim mentality eliminates the fact that traders and lenders were betting against borrowers. That's the entire basis of credit default swaps. Institutions were purchasing bundles of subprime mortgages, insuring them to the hilt against default, and then waiting for borrowers to default to collect the premiums. There was no incentives to permit loan modification, since those holding the commercial paper actually profited from default. Lenders were profiting from giving out these subprime mortgages which could then be bundled and sold, insurers were profiting because lenders were requiring borrowers to pay for extra insurance, and those purchasing bundles profited when borrowers defaulted. Subprime mortgages were pushed on people, most of whom believed that banks wouldn't lend them money that the bank didn't believe they could pay back (that's traditional thinking - of course the bank wants to be repaid, right? Not in this case!). Furthermore, lenders were encouraging people to borrow with ARMs, as the person above described. Consulting parents or others who had mortgaged probably wouldn't have been terribly helpful, since this subprime lending scheme was a fairly new development, one with which most older consumers were inexperienced.

Many people were encouraged to borrow, and were told that they could refinance in a few years after establishing payment history. But then when they tried to do so, they couldn't, despite initial assurances from their lenders that doing so would be a piece of cake.

I have a question for all of you who insist that borrowers are the at-fault party here. Does it bother you at all that banks were bailed out to the tune of billions of dollars, including TARP money, with the express intent that they modify as many loans as possible, but most have failed utterly to modify any signficant number of loans? Doesn't this amount to theft of taxpayer money? How is it that this doesn't absolutely infuriate you? Personally, I am bothered a hell of a lot more by savvy lenders lining their pockets with money intended to curb this crisis than by the possibility that someone *might* be "freeloading" (please note: I admire what Keith did; I am only stating that the concept of a couple individuals "freeloading" is inconsequential to me compared to the theft of billions of taxpayer dollars by wealthy businesspeople). The top four largest banks in the US have begun modifying only a tiny percentage of the number of loans eligible for modification under the fed's Making Home Affordable program.

I just don't understand how some people can villainize the individual borrower and fail so utterly to see the atrocities perpetrated by those eager to make another dollar at anyone's expense. Note that I have no problem with people being wealthy, so long as the wealth isn't gained by oppressing, manipulating, or taking advantage of the rest of the population. I have a huge problem with those who are willing to exploit others to continue amassing wealth, though. I was under the impression that anyone with an ethical/moral code (from whatever source it may be derived) would feel the same.

As I said in an above post it was not solely the borrowers fault in many ARM loans; yes they got screwed but they should take some responsibility. They choose not get a lawyer to deal with and explain the extreme complexities of a mortgage. The first time tried to read a mortgage agreement at my bank I realized why I would need a lawyer, I did and my lawyer (yes expensive but worth it) explained to me the way ARMs work and why it was a bad idea. Even doing a few hours worth of research on mortgages, even on google, you would be told by almost every page you look at to get a lawyer.